The Grenada gazette., 1887-06-25
,NFLvence OF TREES


. co..,deration oe Their Relation 20
uons~s and Individuai Health.
For the last few years public atten.
ion has been quite frequently called
,o the influence of trees upon climate
The special issue Of the United States
Agricultural Department on forestry
and many other contributions have
shown how rainfall is affected, how the
balance of the atmosphere is disturbed
and how climate changes from the ex-
tended and rapid removal OF forests.
There is another study OF trees allied
N this which has reference to their re-
lation to houses and to individual
health.
Both the atmosphere and the soil are
cooled and moistened by the presence
Of trees, This results from the draw
ing up of the water from the subsoil
and from the exclusion Of the sun $
rays, Besides this considerable por-
ton of the rainfall collects on the
leaves and branches. M. Fantiat has
shown .that the LEAKAGE of leaf-bear-
inp trees intercepts onc-third. and that
Of pine trees one-half of the rainfall.
which is afterward returned to the at
mosphere by evaporation. on the
other hand, these same leaves ana
branches restrain the evaporation
of the water which reaches the
ground. This evaporation is
nearly four times less under
mass Of foliage in a forest and two and
one-third times under mass OF pines
than in the open." Then we have
stagnation of air from that Interrupt
ton of wind currents caused by the
foliage. 1t is, therefore, not without
reason that the sanitarian studies the
trees of the yard or lawn in their bear
ing upon individual health. Persons
of susceptible lungs. or having any
tendency to rheumatism, need to be
carefully guarded against such in
luences. Where the foliage is dense
about houses, or where the limbs ever
shadow the piazzas or roof, they
become the storage places for damp,
unwholesome air. The falling leaves,
rathoring from year to year.
give corresponding dampness to the
soil, while at time of foliage the SUM
shine is measurably excluded. 1t is
pretty evident that mankind was not
Intended to be reared in the woods.
The influence OF trees in causing
malaria, or in SO intercepting it as to
have it tarry among them. has long
been known. "A dry garden on
gravel of three acres in extent, in
Surrey, surrounded by trees is gener-
ally three or six degrees colder than
the open common beyond the trees ;
and large pond in pine wood
twenty miles from London afforded
skating for ninety consecutive days in
the winter Of 1866, while during the
greater part of the time the lakes in
the London parks were free from ice. y
We know with what interest the
lover Of trees watches the growth Of
those planted by his own hand and
how many are apt to be scattered about
the new home mansion. As years &C
on, and their growth and foliage in
crease, the owner is 10th to remove
them or severely to shorten theil
branches. If SO. there is great dam
ger that the dry soil and once comfort.
able home will como to be the dampesi
and least desirable spot in the neigh
borhood. A recent careful writer has
given the following sensible direction
as to tree-planting as it bears upon
the conditions of health: IA tree
should not stand so near house,
that if it were to fall il
would fall upon the house; or, In
other words, the trunk should be rs fal
from the house as the height OF the
tree. Belts of trees may be planted or
the north and east aspects Of houses,
but on the east side the trees should
not be so near, nor so high as to keel
the morning sun from the bedroom
windows in the shorter days of thu
year. On the south and west aspect!
Of houses, isolated trees only should b
permitted, SO that there may be fret
&C ccess of the sunshine and Of the ives
winds TO the house and grounds. Higf
walls and palings on these aspects arr
,, also Objectionable and should be re
! placed by fences, or, better still, by opei
pallngs, especially if the houses ar
occupied during the fall Of the leaf an'
in the winter. Trees for plantln.
should be chosen in the following or
der: Conifers, birch, acacia, beech
oak, elm, lime and poplar. For ou
American homes we must add tn
maple, the ash and the tulip tree. q
American poplar, although the dens
foliage Of the maple is sometimes oh